Nehemiah Prays to the Lord

These are the words of Nehemiah. He was the son of Hakaliah. I was in the fort of Susa. I was there in the 20th year that Artaxerxes was king. It was in the month of Kislev.

When I heard about these things, I sat down and wept. For several days I was very sad. I didn’t eat any food. And I prayed to the God of heaven.

Please pay careful attention to my prayer. See how your people are suffering. Please listen to me. I’m praying to you day and night. I’m praying for the people of Israel. We Israelites have committed sins against you. All of us admit it. I and my family have also sinned against you.

Lord, please pay careful attention to my prayer. Listen to the prayers of all of us. We take delight in bringing honor to your name. Give me success today when I bring my request to King Artaxerxes.” I was the king’s wine taster.

The king said to me, “What do you want?” I prayed to the God of heaven.

I prayed to God. I said, “Our God, please listen to our prayer. Some people hate us. They’re saying bad things about us. So let others say bad things about them. Let them be carried off like stolen goods. Let them be taken to another country as prisoners.

But we prayed to our God. We put guards on duty day and night to watch out for danger.

All of them were trying to frighten us. They thought, “Their hands will get too weak to do the work. So it won’t be completed.” But I prayed to God. I said, “Make my hands stronger.”

There was also Mattaniah. He led in prayer and in giving thanks. He was the son of Mika. Mika was the son of Zabdi. Zabdi was the son of Asaph. There was also Bakbukiah. He was second among those who helped Mattaniah. And there was Abda. He was the son of Shammua. Shammua was the son of Galal. Galal was the son of Jeduthun.